Day: October 19, 2009

“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

[14] Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Angels are not the ones who get to sit at the right hand of the Father until God makes all their enemies their footstool. They are not worthy of such a position. Such a lofty place is reserved for the Son of God alone.

Angels do not fit all the descriptions of the Son of God outlined for us in the first 13 verses of this chapter. Angels are servants, not rulers. And their service is for the sake of all God’s children. Angels serve us.

There is no end of the stories of encounters with angels, visions of angels, conversations with angels … . Most of the time the angels are said to be here to affirm people. Hollywood almost universally makes angels the bearers of messages about the innate goodness of humanity. We shouldn’t expect Hollywood to seek to try to remain faithful to the Bible’s teachings.

The striking thing in this passage is that God sends angels to serve His children. His children are those for whom the Son of God rules the world right now (Ephesians 1:21). So, we are children of God because the eternal Son of God left heaven and came to earth as a human being and died for us, taking the punishment for our sins so that we would not be eternally punished for them. Now that God has done that He sends angels to serve us in our lives as Christians.

God`s grace simply never ends. He sees to it that we are taken care of between our conversion and the consummation. Creatures who have sat around the very throne of God, who have seen God do wonders far beyond our imaginings, are told to leave heaven and do something for us. This speaks very loudly of the love of God for us. God leaves no work unfinished. He has done the soul stunning work of redemption through Jesus and He gives us God the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing the salvation to come (Ephesians 1:14) and He makes sure that we are served by angels until He returns.

Don`t try to determine what is the work of angels in your life. Don`t arrogate to them divine qualities either. But do marvel at the lengths the eternal Creator who can do all things as He pleases, has gone to, to ensure that you are cared for properly. If it does not make you worship then do a serious check on the status of your soul before God. For this is simply stunning stuff.